The following is a short video that focuses on defining pain and learning to live with chronic pain including how to create a pain management plan.
The producers, from the Human Performance Resource Center, emphasize the key ideas that the sensation of pain
a. comes from the brain
b. that the brain can be retrained
c. and that having a pain management plan is essential.
For those in chronic pain a pain management plan or “Game Plan”, as they refer to it, includes first, getting medical care and attention and then looking at four important areas of our lives that can affect and impact our experience of pain:
*our thoughts and emotions, including the role of stress,
*our diet and lifestyle choices, some of which can overly sensitize our nervous system,
*our personal history, as major life events can become intertwined with our pain experience,
*and finally, exercise, as staying strong is essential to support our body, especially if we have areas that have become injured or weakened due to disease and/or the aging process.
